Sinkin

Sink, before.

abundance of elbow grease

 Wednesday was DIY demolition day. A friend of mine moved into a new rental this week, and it's saving her hundreds a month, but desperately could use a little TLC. She got approval from her landlord to do a few updates. We stared out with a mission to just change out the faucet on the kitchen sink, but we ended up removing the entire sink. We have zero plumbing experience but we did watch a couple youtube videos, so that kinda makes us experts, right? Our tool list looked something like this: 

severely stuck valves

• Pink hammer
• screwdriver
• one leather glove, know as the glove of strength due to it's amazing power in helping to turn severely stuck valves. 
• 2 identical wrenches. 
• old blue bucket (to catch any drips)
• An abundance of elbow grease

Mostly it was trail and error, and we were actually kinda surprised at how well we did. She's putting in a new counter top (why we decided to remove the sink) so no after pics yet. 

Our next project, changing light fixtures and ceiling fans. Might need to watch a few extra youtube videos before we tackle electrical. 

old plumbing

Picture This...

Stormy sunrise over Kaneohe Bay, HI

Macro shot of tropical leaf underbelly

What gives you inspiration? I need a creative muse to help me finish up my photo assignments for NYIP. I have until December to send all of my photos in, but I don't want to wait till the last minute. I love photography and nature. I'm just having a hard time lately connecting the two. I know "they" say you can find beauty in anything, but sometimes I feel like we see the same things so often that we overlook how beautiful our own surrounding can actually be. It's easy when you have a picturesque location. Take the shot above, it was taken at sunrise on one of Hawaii's most beautiful beaches, granted, it may have taken a few tries to get he water to flow the way I wanted, but overall the scenery is what makes this shot. On the other hand, we have the leaf. It's just a plain old ordinary leaf, but shooting it with the right lighting brought out every line, detail and even the drops of water. I actually like the leaf photo better than the Hawaii sunrise. I just need to get out and discover what's already here. 

Squirrel!!

Sadie, kayaking Hawaii

Do dogs age the way we do? We hear that large breeds, like Labs, age 7-10 human years per every dog year. This would make my Sadie dog the equivalent of a 98-140 years old person. What 100 year old do you know that still tries chasing tennis balls, or gets crazy excited about a car ride? The problem is she is getting old. Her back legs just want let her do all the things her heart desires. Our walks have slowed down, and then I feel like I have to drag her the last few blocks. I can't bring myself to leave her at home, and she still needs some exercise. On the opposite end is Roxy, my 4 year old Lab. She has more energy than a squirrel on crack, so just imagine me walking these two together. Roxy is pulling my forward while Sadie might as well be an anchor. Total arm workout for me. Yes, they've both been trained to heel, and for Sadie thats not an issue. Roxy however, just gets so excited after being inside most of the day that she can't contain her hyperness, or maybe it comes from all the times Nate had her pull him on the skateboard. She thinks a leash equals going buck wild! Beach time is the ultimate good dog reward, and true to their web footed bread, they're addicted. Swimming fetch is a great low impact way to get Sadie some exercise, except Roxy thinks her mission in life is to see how many tennis balls she can fit in her mouth at one time without drowning. Poor old Sadie use to be a swimming machine, but there's no way she's out swimming Roxy, even if she does see where the tennis ball went. Sadie's probably lived more life than most people. She's been on cross country trips, flown to Hawaii, Guam, and back to Virginia. She's explored multiple beaches, trails, parks, lakes and rivers. She may have the body of a 14 year old dog, but she has the spirit of a puppy. 

Roxy

Surfer attitude

This post may end up more as a rant, and for that I apologize. I spent hours surfing with a fiend a couple weekends ago. Yeah, the waves were small and inconsistent, but I knew that before going out. For me it was just getting out in the water, hanging with a friend and watching the dolphins, and catching a wave or two was a bonus. Last weekend I met up with my surfing group at 3rd street. I saw people I hadn't seen since last summer, and we cheered each other on, gave pointers and just had fun with it. A great morning was had, and I even got me a new surfing buddy. Then Sunday rolled around. The waves grew in size, but so did the crowds. I was trying to take a friend who had never been surfing, but I realized this probable wasn't the best day for a beginner. It was hard enough getting out thru the breakers, but the crowds made it almost impossible. My friend decided to make it a beach day. My new surfing buddy and I went out to have some fun and we were until "surfer Joe" decided to be a royal ass. I admit, I can't out paddle most of the guys that were out that day, and I kept having to pull out because some other guy got on the wave before me. This sucked, but what sucked more was some random dude yelling at me and telling me I need to paddle in and sit this one out. We exchanged some not so nice words, but I ended up paddling away to avoid a full blown fight. Thanks Dude, I hope you feel masculine and accomplished. I did end up paddling in to hang with my beach friend. I just don't get that attitude that locals have. It's not like there won't be another wave, in oh, about 8 seconds. You don't own the waves, the break or the beach. I don't pretend to be the worlds best surfer. It's just something that I love to do. How quickly people forget how bad they sucked when they were learning. 

Upgrade

2012 Toyota Tundra TRD

The back seat is massive!

We are now the proud new owners of a 2012 Toyota Tundra TRD 4x4 crew cab, 5.7 V8. I have to say I was a little sad to see our Tacoma go, but this was a deal we just couldn't pass by. 
We went to First Team in Chesapeake since thats where we purchased the Tacoma. We think they're one of the best dealerships in the area. We always get exceptional customer service and there haven't been any surprise cost in the closing paper work. Before we went I looked up Kelly blue book on the Tacoma and knew we had equity before we went to trade it in. The reason for the upgrade is because we want to be able to pull a trailer later and the Tacoma's V6 would limit us to much on selection and probably would of had trouble pulling a trailer up mountains with steep inclines. This Tundra should get the job done as long as we keep our trailer around 30ft. The back seat is massive, and also reclines. We found the ride to be smoother than the Tacoma and that'll be a plus on long trips. I haven't found any draw backs yet, but it is taken some time to get use to driving a bigger truck again. The back-up camera has red and green grid lines which has been hugely helpful. I took the truck surfing yesterday and was able to easily fit 3 long boards in the bed. Yep, I think this Tundra is gonna work out perfectly!